It's almost Yuletide! A festive time of the year, where Christmas trees are aglitter with lights, and children get presents through the chimney from Santa.
Confused by some of these words? You'll see some wonderful English Christmas words this time of year. Some are intimately associated with this festive season. Whether you are a native speaker or learning English as a second language, this list of 100 Popular Christmas Words in English (and their meanings) will help you expand your vocabulary.
What are Christmas words and phrases?
So, what exactly are Christmas-themed words or phrases? There is no definitive list of all Christmas-themed words, but we've managed to list the top 100 for you below. Many specific Christmas words and phrases in English are not widely used in everyday life. Some are, many of them are not.
For example, let's take the word "merry." Dictionaries tell us that the word means happy and cheerful. You don't hear this word a lot in everyday conversation. But in December, you'll come across many people wishing you a Merry Christmas. Further down this article, we'll explain how you can use these words in your IELTS Speaking test.
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A Full List of 100 Popular English Christmas Words
Check out our full list of 100 Christmas Words in English (and understand what they mean).
Christmas word | Meaning |
|---|---|
25 December | Christmas Day |
Advent | The period of four weeks before Christmas |
Advent calendar | An Advent calendar is a special calendar used to mark the days leading up to Christmas |
Angel | A messenger from God, important around Christmas because an angel appeared to Mary to announce the birth of Jesus |
Aglitter | Sparkling or glittering, especially with reflected light (like: the Christmas tree is aglitter with lights) |
Baubles | A ball-shaped Christmas decoration for hanging on a tree |
Birth | Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus in Christian religions |
Boughs | A large branch of a tree |
Boxing Day | The day after Christmas. Why is it called "Boxing" day? We're not really sure |
Candy | Also called lollies or sweets in Australia or the UK. Children usually get candy for Christmas |
Candy canes | A type of Christmas candy/lollies |
Carolers | People who sing carols |
Carolling | Singing carols |
Carols | A happy or religious song, usually one sung at Christmas |
Celebrate | To observe an event, like Christmas, with ceremonies, traditions, and festivities |
Cheer | A shout of encouragement, praise, or joy. |
Chestnuts | A traditional ingredient for Christmas dishes, especially in America |
Chimney | Santa comes down the chimney to deliver gifts to good children |
Christmas | The annual Christian festival celebrating Christ's birth |
Christmas Crackers | A festive cardboard paper tube that make a snapping sound when pulled open, and often contain a small gift and a joke |
Christmas Eve | The day before Christmas |
Christmas tree | A real (or fake) evergreen tree that is decorated and kept in the home at Christmas |
Christmas tree stand | A Christmas tree stand is an object designed to support a cut, natural or an artificial Christmas tree |
Christmas Sweaters | A sweater (also called a jumper) is a garment themed with a Christmas or winter-style design, often worn during the festive season. |
Cranberry sauce | A traditional Christmas sauce, usually to accompany a turkey dish |
Deck | Another word for decorating (from the song Deck the Halls) |
Decorating | To add things to an object in order to make it more attractive. Like decorating the Christmas tree with baubles |
Eggnog | A traditional christmas a drink consisting of rum, brandy, or other alcohol mixed with beaten egg, milk, and sugar |
Elf | A supernatural creature of folk tales, typically represented as a small. Elves accompany Santa. |
Elves | Plural of Elf |
Eve | The day before (Christmas) |
Family | Parents, children, sibblings, etc. Usually the people you would celebrate Christmas with |
Father Christmas | Another name for Santa |
Feast | A large meal, typically a celebratory one (for example a Christmas feast) |
Festive | Cheerful and jovially celebratory, usually relating to Christmas |
Frankincense | A type of incense - producing a strong aromatic scent |
Frosty the Snowman | A popular Christmas song |
Fruitcake | A Christmas dessert |
Gift-wrapping | To wrap presents in decorative paper (so the person you give the gist to doesn't know what they are getting) |
Gingerbread house | A novelty confectionery shaped like a building that is made of cookie dough, cut and baked into appropriate components like walls and roofing |
Goose | Before Turkey became a popular Christmas dish, people usually served geese (plural for goose) for Christmas dinner |
Grinch | A mean-spirited person who spoils the enjoyment of others (Christmas Grinch who spoils Christmas) |
Ho, ho, ho! | What Santa says before "Merry Christmas!" |
Holiday | A period of free time, also called vacation in the US |
Holly | A small evergreen tree with shiny, sharp leaves and small, round, red fruit. It's used for Christmas decorations |
Holy | Related to religion or a god (Christmas is a holy day because it marks the birth of Jesus) |
Jack Frost | Jack Frost represents the coming of dark, cold days, like winter in the northern hemisphere |
Jesus | The son of God, also called Jesus Christ, is the central figure of Christianity |
Jingle Bells | Famous Christmas song |
Jolly | Happy and cheerful |
Kris Kringle | A game of gift-giving around Christmas |
Merry | Another word for happy and cheerful |
Miracles | An unusual, mysterious, inexplicable event, usually for a good outcome |
Mistletoe | A plant with yellowish flowers and white berries, usually associated with Christmas |
Myrrh | An expensive spice, used for making perfume, incense, medicine (pronounced "mur"). It was given on Jesus' birth. |
Nativity | When written with a lowercase 'n' it means the occasion of a person's birth. When you see it with a capital 'N' it means the birth of Jesus Christ |
Naughty list | If you're on Santa's naughty list, you haven't been good throughout the year and may not get Christmas gifts |
North Pole | The most northerly point on Earth, but also the place where Santa lives |
Nutcracker | Nutcracker dolls (or Christmas nutcrackers) are decorative figurines most commonly made to resemble a toy soldier |
Ornaments | A beautiful object, used as a decoration |
Peace | Freedom from violence, especially living/working together happily without disagreements (You'll hear "Peace on Earth" a lot around Christmas) |
Pinecone | A hard, oval "fruit" from a pine tree. Around Christmas used as a decoration. |
Plum pudding | A traditional Christmas dessert (fun fact: in the UK dessert is usually called pudding) |
Presents | Gifts |
Quince pie | Traditional Christmas dessert |
Reindeer | The animals in front of Santa's sleigh |
Rejoice | To be glad |
Rudolph | The name of Santa's red-nosed reindeer (there are also Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen) |
Saint Nicholas | A Christian bishop who helped the needy. Saint Nicholas transformed into the legendary character called Santa Claus, who brings Christmas presents to children around the world |
Santa Claus | Anther word for Santa |
Santa's helpers | Usually elves (but children are often given the honorary role as "Santa's little helper") |
Santa's workshop | The place where Santa prepares all the presents for kids around the world |
Scrooge | A person who is stingy with money, a selfish person who doesn't like giving or spending |
Season's greetings | Special well-wishes, or greetings, you give to another person |
Seconds | Having another serve at dinner |
Secret Santa | Anonymous gift swap |
Sledge | A sleigh |
Sleigh | A sled or a vehicle that's drawn over snow or ice (but in Santa's case, it flies and is drawn by reindeer) |
Sleigh bells | A tinkling bell attached to the harness of a sleigh horse |
Snow globe | A decoration made from glass or plastic, filled with a clear liquid and a substance that looks like snow (and the snow falls when shaken) |
Snowball | A ball made out of snow |
Snowman | A figure of a person made of packed snow |
Spirit | The mood, or attitude of a person, group, or period of time (like Christmas spirit) |
St. Nicks | While Santa is named after St Nicholas (colloquially called St Nick), the birthday of this saint is on December 6. |
Star | The Christmas star guided the three kings, or wise men, to the baby Jesus |
Stocking | Usually womens garments, but around Christmas we usually mean a long sock worn by men hung up by children for Santa to fill with presents |
Stuffing | A mixture of food that's used to fill something that is going to be eaten (like stuffing for the turkey) |
Tidings | News or information, as in: the bearer of glad tidings |
Tinsel | A decoration of threads, strips, or sheets of paper, or plastic used to produce a glittering and sparkling appearance |
Toy sack | Large sacks for used by Santa to put presents in |
Tradition | A custom or belief (like Christmas) handed down from one generation to another |
Trimmings | Other foods that are served with the main dish of a meal (like Turkey with all the trimmings) |
Unwrap | Process of opening (unwrapping) your Christmas presents |
Vacation | Also called holiday in British English |
Wishlist | A list where people write down all the things they'd like as Christmas gifts |
Wreath | Decorations made from evergreens to represent the everlasting life, they are usually round with no beginning or end |
Xmas | Another word for Christmas, usually seen in the US |
Yule | Another word for Christmas |
Yuletide | The Christmas season |
How to use popular English Christmas words in a sentence?
Now that you've read the list of English Christmas words, you may have found some sound familiar. That’s probably because you’ve come across them around Christmas time before. Let’s have a look at some of the lesser-known Christmas words and see how to use them in a sentence.
Yuletide
Let's start with a strange one: Yuletide. The word yule can be used as another name for Christmas. Tide means, among other things, a season or period in the year. So, when you combine these words, you get yuletide, which is used as another word for Christmastime, or the Christmas season. How to use Yuletide in a sentence? When you use yuletide in reference to Christmas, it tends to sound a bit old-fashioned. Check out this example:
The Yuletide colours of red and green are particularly favourite around the festive season.
'Tis the season
Another phrase you usually only hear around Christmas is 'Tis the season. ‘Tis the Season is often used to indicate that it’s a particular time of year. The “season” in this phrase refers to the time of year that spans from late November, after American Thanksgiving, to January 6. 'Tis is a contraction of it is. The apostrophe here replaces the “i” of “it”. A similar contraction is ’twas for “it was”, as in “’Twas the night before Christmas.” And how do you use this in a sentence?
“I can’t wait for some time off work.” “Yes, I know! ‘Tis the season.”
Scrooge
Okay, the last one is a word you might come across (but hopefully not to describe you) is a scrooge. Where does this word come from? Ebenezer Scrooge is a character in Charles Dickens' 1843 story ‘A Christmas Carol.’ At the start of the tale, Scrooge is a mean, cold-hearted person who despises Christmas. Since then, a scrooge has become synonymous with someone who is selfish and unwilling to give or spend money.
“Their friend is a real scrooge! He refuses to buy them a drink even though he can easily afford it.”
Can you use Christmas words in your IELTS test?
The IELTS Speaking test is supposed to represent a normal conversation between two people. So, you should avoid very formal language. For example, you don't usually say "furthermore" or "moreover" in everyday conversations. However, you probably also don't want to use overly informal or old-fashioned language. Slang is an example of very informal language.
Some Christmas words sound very old-fashioned, so you have to be careful when you use them in your IELTS Speaking test. First, make sure you pronounce them correctly. Second, make sure you use them appropriately and in context. Let's look at an example.
Are you after a jolly good score?
Do you remember from our full list of 100 Christmas Words in English what the word "jolly" means? It's a slightly old-fashioned word but people still use it, particularly in the UK (tip: learn this when you're thinking of moving to the UK!). You're less likely to come across this word when you want to move to Canada, Australia, the US or New Zealand. But, if tell the examiner in your Speaking test that you had "a jolly good time" instead of "a very good time," you will demonstrate a higher lexical resource. That's one of the criteria to get a higher score!
How to get a high score in IELTS Speaking?
You can get a higher IELTS band score if you show the ability to use idiomatic expressions appropriately but perhaps stick with common idiomatic expressions that are well-known. We've provided some helpful lists with our Idioms A-Z Explained.
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What's Christmas like in Australia?
Christmas in Australia is a little different from Christmas in Europe. If you've grown up in the northern hemisphere, it probably doesn't even feel like Christmas. Why? Because it's hot in Australia around Christmas. Very hot. So, nothing feels quite right. It's not cold and there's no snow (but Santa still wears his warm coat!). There are also no short, dark days. In Australia, the days are long and filled with sunshine.
I mean, let's be honest: who doesn't want to celebrate Christmas at the beach?
Most of the traditions we know and are familiar with have come from the Northern Hemisphere, where kids play with snow and families feast on turkey, warm puddings and fruitcakes. Since Christmas happens during summer in Australia, we embrace the holiday season in blistering heat and get as far as we can get from long-established traditions. Let’s look at 5 of our favourite summer Christmas experiences.
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